When I was very young my parents didn’t have much money that is until they gained a modest inheritance when my grandmother died when I was 14 years old. My mom was thankfully thrifty and she would stretch out the meals so that they were affordable and would say that she would make enough for six even though there were seven of us, that way nothing went to waste.
My brother Doug is the kind of person who would rather be hungry than full. He has a delicate stomach and it doesn’t take much for him to overeat and become uncomfortable. When growing up he sat at the end of the table and would serve himself last when there was hardly anything left. By nature he is quiet and easygoing unless someone gets the ire of his temper and then it’s a different story. At meals though he seemed less engaged than the more boisterous ones of us (that especially being me.)
A few times there wasn’t anything left in the serving bowl when it got around to him and he didn’t even speak up until my mom noticed. She’d ask us to divvy up some of what we had so that his plate wouldn’t be empty. After dinner he would sometimes lie on the floor and quietly take in his digestion. Digestion of the rajasic energy left when we were finished. He often would sleep in the bathtub at night liking the feel of its cold austerity. He was a shy introverted kid but ironically quite popular in the family and with his peers. He wasn’t trying to prove anything just living life the way he thought it should be lived.
He did have his share of wild, adventure and fun. A doer and a daredevil. The only one of us that jumped out of an airplane and scaled the chimney on the side of our house scaring my sister half to death. As an adult he can now be found in a cross fit type class or running a marathon. He still is lean and tends to not overdo it with a meal.
One of his best friends Stephanie exemplifies the meaning of tapas too. A burning heat of turbine austerity. As one of his other friends remarked to Doug, ‘she doesn’t have an off switch.’ She has set a world record for rowing the longest amount of time at one sitting and runs marathons and triathlons and ultras. I had heard that she even teaches a yoga class at the gym. I had assumed when I heard about her yoga that is was just the physical exercise kind.
I found that I was wrong though when I practiced behind her at a class last Christmas. I was somewhat surprised by the beauty of her asana flow but what impressed me most was how quiet she could be when we started the class in meditation. During class she dialed in the pauses, moments of quiet, the spaces and repose. She’s the real deal, that Stephanie and how apropos a good friend to my bro. (Doug is in the grey t-shirt. You can tell he looks a little full in the picture; he just finished his pasta dinner the night b/f the Marine Corp Marathon.)
“The cause of illness is too many foods and too many thoughts.”
Quote from The Yoga of Discipline Swami Chidvilasananda
My brother Doug is the kind of person who would rather be hungry than full. He has a delicate stomach and it doesn’t take much for him to overeat and become uncomfortable. When growing up he sat at the end of the table and would serve himself last when there was hardly anything left. By nature he is quiet and easygoing unless someone gets the ire of his temper and then it’s a different story. At meals though he seemed less engaged than the more boisterous ones of us (that especially being me.)
A few times there wasn’t anything left in the serving bowl when it got around to him and he didn’t even speak up until my mom noticed. She’d ask us to divvy up some of what we had so that his plate wouldn’t be empty. After dinner he would sometimes lie on the floor and quietly take in his digestion. Digestion of the rajasic energy left when we were finished. He often would sleep in the bathtub at night liking the feel of its cold austerity. He was a shy introverted kid but ironically quite popular in the family and with his peers. He wasn’t trying to prove anything just living life the way he thought it should be lived.
He did have his share of wild, adventure and fun. A doer and a daredevil. The only one of us that jumped out of an airplane and scaled the chimney on the side of our house scaring my sister half to death. As an adult he can now be found in a cross fit type class or running a marathon. He still is lean and tends to not overdo it with a meal.
One of his best friends Stephanie exemplifies the meaning of tapas too. A burning heat of turbine austerity. As one of his other friends remarked to Doug, ‘she doesn’t have an off switch.’ She has set a world record for rowing the longest amount of time at one sitting and runs marathons and triathlons and ultras. I had heard that she even teaches a yoga class at the gym. I had assumed when I heard about her yoga that is was just the physical exercise kind.
I found that I was wrong though when I practiced behind her at a class last Christmas. I was somewhat surprised by the beauty of her asana flow but what impressed me most was how quiet she could be when we started the class in meditation. During class she dialed in the pauses, moments of quiet, the spaces and repose. She’s the real deal, that Stephanie and how apropos a good friend to my bro. (Doug is in the grey t-shirt. You can tell he looks a little full in the picture; he just finished his pasta dinner the night b/f the Marine Corp Marathon.)
“The cause of illness is too many foods and too many thoughts.”
Quote from The Yoga of Discipline Swami Chidvilasananda
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